Business Disability Forum: A Practical Employer Guide
What Is the Business Disability Forum?
The Business Disability Forum (BDF) is a not-for-profit membership organisation that works with businesses to recruit and retain disabled employees and serve disabled customers more effectively. Founded in 1986 (as the Employers' Forum on Disability), BDF today counts over 600 member organisations employing more than 20% of the UK workforce.
BDF operates as a practical resource hub โ not a regulator. Its goal is to make it easier to be disability-smart in business.
Website: businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
Core BDF Services for Employers
1. Disability Standard
The Disability Standard is BDF's flagship benchmarking framework. It measures employer performance across 10 areas:
- Leadership and accountability
- Strategy and planning
- Awareness and communication
- Training and development
- Inclusive recruitment
- Flexible working and job design
- Adjustments and support
- Pay, benefits, and progression
- Products and services
- Supply chain and partnerships
Employers submit evidence against each area and receive a score (0โ100). The process surfaces gaps and drives year-on-year improvement.
Who uses it: BT, KPMG, Lloyds Banking Group, the Civil Service, NHS trusts, and hundreds more.
2. Disability Smart Toolkits
BDF publishes free and member-exclusive toolkits covering:
- Mental health at work
- Neurodiversity at work
- Cancer and employment
- Adjustments and the duty to make reasonable adjustments
- Disability disclosure
- Line manager guides for specific conditions (autism, chronic pain, hearing loss, visual impairment, and more)
These toolkits are written in plain English and are designed for HR professionals and line managers without specialist training.
3. Legal Helpline
BDF member organisations have access to a legal helpline staffed by employment law specialists who can advise on:
- Reasonable adjustments disputes
- Ill-health dismissal
- Disability-related absence management
- Tribunal risk
4. Disability Smart e-Learning
BDF offers certified online training modules for managers and employees covering:
- Understanding disability and the Equality Act
- Inclusive recruitment
- Managing disability at work
Key BDF Research and Reports
| Report | Year | Key Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Disability Smart Index | Annual | Tracks improvement across 60+ member organisations |
| Reasonable Adjustments Research | 2023 | 57% of disabled employees say adjustments improved their productivity |
| Disclosure at Work | 2022 | Only 53% of disabled employees disclose to their employer |
| The Disability Pay Gap | 2023 | Disabled employees earn on average 17.2% less than non-disabled peers |
Five Actions Employers Can Take Today
- Appoint a disability champion at board level โ BDF data shows organisations with senior sponsorship score 23 points higher on the Disability Standard.
- Train your line managers โ Line managers are the most important factor in whether reasonable adjustments work. BDF's free Line Manager Guides (available for 40+ conditions) take under 30 minutes to read.
- Review your recruitment process โ Remove barriers: allow reasonable adjustments at interview, audit job descriptions for unnecessary requirements, and ensure your ATS is accessible (WCAG 2.1 AA).
- Implement a Workplace Adjustments Passport โ A written record of agreed adjustments that travels with the employee through role changes and manager changes.
- Measure your disability data โ Set a voluntary disability data disclosure target. BDF members who measure improve: organisations with >60% disclosure rates score 18 points higher on the Disability Standard.
How InkludX Connects to BDF
InkludX's Certification Engine dimension scores map directly to BDF Disability Standard areas. Employers completing InkludX certification build evidence that can accelerate their BDF benchmarking submission.
Sources: Business Disability Forum (businessdisabilityforum.org.uk), Disability Standard 2023, BDF Reasonable Adjustments Research 2023